Information about Allen Interval Algebra and its incorporation into IOF Core
IOF Core supports representing qualitative temporal information based on an algebra of binary relations on intervals developed by Allen [1] to address the problem of reasoning about such information. These reasoning problems are frequently encountered in industrial settings, particularly in areas such as planning and scheduling, factory monitoring systems, and healthcare applications [ref]. IOF Core defines object properties with the following labels, each representing the original temporal relations as shown in the following table.
Allen’s relation | IOF Core Object Property | Pictorial Interpretation | IOF Core Inverse Property |
before | core:before | XXX YYY | core:after |
equal | core:occursSimultaneouslyWith | XXX YYY | (symmetrical) |
meets | core:meets | XXXYYY | core:metBy |
overlaps | core:temporallyOverlaps | XXX YYY | core:temporallyOverlappedBy |
during | core:occursDuring | XXX YYYYYY | core:containsOccurrenceOf |
starts | core:temporallyStarts | XXX YYYYYY | core:temporallyStartedBy |
finishes | core:temporallyFinishes | XXX YYYYYY | core:temporallyFinishedBy |
Typically, Allen’s temporal relations hold only between time intervals, but IOF Core allows for both bfo:temporal interval and bfo:process (considering every process occupies a temporal interval. Therefore, the relation among two intervals can also be extended to the two processes occupying those intervals).
References
[1] Allen, J.F., 1984. Towards a general theory of action and time. Artificial intelligence, 23(2), pp.123-154.